Hank Williams - Luke the Drifter 1950

I don't know how this album eluded me for this long.  I found out about this from a Hank Williams documentary I watched, and it's interesting how all his band mates, personal friends and lovers all say that this is the REAL Hank Williams.  Apparently he was extremely disillusioned by his fame and didn't see it fit that they turned him into such a commodity or product.  This is what he wanted to tell us, the first track opening up with a speech to a courtroom by a father of a convicted prostitute warning the audience of the ills of judgment.  One of the songs is about the sorrow and sadness of divorce, not only emotional but slightly philosophical.  Another addressed to Joseph Stalin, warning him of being an evil man.  Each song has reverend-like sermons by Hank where he professes some pretty real and heartbreaking material.  It's poetic, it's reverent, it's philosophical, it's loving, it's moral, and it's sad.  Most of all it's extremely insightful.

Jukebox owners wouldn't buy it under the name Hank Williams because it was so strange at the time, and it still is so he was convinced by Fred Rose, the great country music publisher, to create the pseudonym Luke the Drifter, which is also the name of the record.  If you like Hank Williams or country music, you have to hear this.    

http://www.mediafire.com/?2wqcnnyhzzz

George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic - The Mothership Connection 1978, Live in Houston

George Clinton was always known to say that his and his group's favorite place to play was in Houston, Texas.  There used to be a pretty vibrant and diversified funk and blues and soul scene up until the 80's, and even through the 90's if you, like me, are inclined to include DJ Screw and the plethora of R&B artists that sprouted from here in that decade.  I was lucky enough to see P-Funk in Houston at an outdoor venue on a beautiful day, and they performed for over 3 hours!

Clinton started the doo-wop group The Parliaments in the early 60's out of Plainview, New Jersey, and the group enjoyed some commercial success, but mainly at this time Clinton's bread and butter was as a staff writer for Motown Records out of Detroit.  He worked on ridiculous amount of records through them and probably honed his writing and arranging skills to a high degree.  Obviously, writing for Motown at that time was no joke. Hitsville, USA was producing some of the most widely listened to music and George Clinton was partly the reason why.  The Parliaments had a sister group called Funkadelic (you can download one of their albums off of this blog from a previous post) and they had interchangeable musicians for both groups that eventually joined together in the 1970's to make a super group that well now know as George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic.

So it's important to note that these guys make serious concept albums.  There is live footage of this concert, which was held at the Astrodome (where the Houston Astros used to play), which at that time was one of the biggest stadiums in the United States.  Along with George Clinton, the group hosts Bootsy Rubber Band Collins on bass who you may know played for James Brown all those years, and Eddie Hazel on guitar who was also one of the main arrangers for the group.  I could go on about them forever, but I'm just going to let you listen.

01 - Cosmic Slop

02 - Do that Stuff (Intro)

03 - Do that Stuff

04 - Gammin On Ya

05 - Standing on the Verge 

06 - Children of Production

07 - Mothership Connection

08 - Swing Down Sweet Chariot 

09 - Dr. Funkenstein

10 - P. Funk

11 - Tear the Roof Off the Sucker

12 - Funkin' for Fun

http://www.mediafire.com/?ioqtcmtqoji

Los Nacionales Jacinto de Gatica - Sones Jarocho

Jaracho is a style of Mexican music from Veracruz that instantly goes to the heart and the chest.  Intensely string heavy, they have one of the best traditional harp styles I've ever heard along with a variety of small guitar-like instruments picked by a plectrum made from cow or goat bone.  The lyrics are often humorous and a little dirty and filled with sexual puns, etc.  One of the most popular Son Jarocho tunes was immortalized into rock and roll by Ritchie Valens and as we all know is La Bamba.  Check this record out, it's bangin.

https://rapidshare.com/files/161948204/JG.rar

Bachata Roja - Acoustic Bachata From the Cabaret Era

The style of music known as Bachata is interesting because from everything I've read it seems that it was considered incredibly low class music until the late 1990's and 2000's.  It seems to be a central criticism of the music way more than other styles that were treated similarly like Cumbia or Rocksteady.  Bachata caught my attention for the first time through mainstream Latin radio stations in Houston that play the modern electric guitar version because I was impressed by the chorused out guitar sound and the incredibly skillful bongo work.  Also the vocalists tend to be extremely emotive.

The original name of the genre was amargue which translates to bitterness, or bitter music   Many bachata converts of the '90s and 2000s have had little, if any, exposure to old-school bachata, and this excellent compilation takes a look at what bachata sounded like before that commercialization occurred. Bachata Roja: Acoustic Bachata from the Cabaret Era opens with Rafael Encarnación's doo wop-flavored "Muero Contigo" from 1962 and closes with Juan Bautista's 1990 hit "Asesina," which uses an electric guitar (old-school bachata was totally acoustic) and has one foot in classic bachata and the other in modern bachata. Many of the tracks are from the '60s and '70s, and those who associate bachata with the commercial hits of Aventura or Monchy & Alexandra will be surprised to hear how much rawer bachata sounded in the hands of old-school bachateros like Felix Quintana, Augusto Santos, Julio Angel, and the late Marino Pérez (who sadly, drank himself to death). Bachata Roja is enthusiastically recommended to anyone who wants to hear what bachata sound like before it became so commercialized.

http://www.mediafire.com/?zhya0ue12r8s2ib

Calle 13 - Self Titled

El Residente y El Visitante.  A DJ and a vocalist from San Juan who had been homies since they were kids who grew up off of Calle 13, or 13th Street, which has been, for a long while, the cultural and musical center of the city.  Musicians of solid caliber of fucking talent and who knew how to mix a track and just make a solid down ass record.  I'm unabashedly such a fan of homemade records because the accessibility of the gear makes the field so much more competitive and the cats who make the records have to climb mountains of forgotten or bypassed music to stand on top and shine the new sound.  And everywhere in America (other than the United States, of course ; ), THESE guys.....were one of the most popular groups around for a good minute.  

Half haard-ass Reggaeton, half suuper conscious ass hip-hop, half fuucking goofy as fuck down hard conscientiousness, makes for 150% of dance music that drops hard, and I won't explain it anymore, because the chances lie, that if you've read this far, you're probably going to download the album.  

Sooooooooo, I only have one piece of advice, friend(s).  Listen to it with something that actually makes BASS.  It makes the record 100%  different.  

(Sorry for all the math, folks ; )

ENLARGE ALBUM ART FOR TRACKLISTING

http://www.mediafire.com/?1jokwllmwnn

Zakir Hussain & Alla Rakha - Tabla Duets

Sorry, folks.  It's been a houston minute since I posted, and mein apologies, of course, BUUUUUUT, i got something for you, and this is one of those that's a guaranteed "like (if you will)."  The talent on this album are Alla Rakha and his son Zakir Hussain.  Alla Rakha is widely known for the fact that he was essentially the first guy to make a presence as a tabla player outside of just an accompaniment musician and Zakir Hussain is widely understood to be the best tabla player alive.  Rakha really helped the tabla become a solo study, as it should have been a long time before.  If you like Ravi Shankar, then forget about him and listen to guys like this.

The beautiful thing about this record is the jugalbandi, or call and response.  They also do a practice called kar-taal which is essentially when one of the tabla players on the spot improvises a (generally) 32 note phrase and the other tabla player has to learn and play it back verbatim on the spot, and obviously since the tabla is subject to tone, they must also play back the melody as they are playing the rhythm.

01 - Alla Rakha & Zakir Hussain - Jai Taal

02 - Alla Rakha & Zakir Hussain - Matta Taal

03 - Alla Rakha & Zakir Hussain - Pashto

http://www.mediafire.com/?mtjgnmmyoin

Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson - Waylon and Willie

Don't let that Willie Nelson let your mind wandering.  This album isn't that hippie mumbo jumbo you're used to thinking about when you hear that bard's name, Willie Nelson.  To be honest, I'm not too familiar with Waylon Jennings or Willie Nelsons work.  A friend of mine showed me this album recently and I picked up pretty quickly why he did.

Waylon Jennings was born in 1937 and probably had his first taste of commercial fame as the lead guitarist for Buddy Holly and the Crickets.  IN FACT, he was the one who lost a coin toss that competed for a seat on a heated airplane during a blizzard, the flight which led to the eventual crash and death of the Big Bopper, Buddy Holly, and Ritchie Valens.  A pure Lubbock, Texas boy, you can hear his Rock n' Roll influence in his fazed out guitar and ultra-lonesome writing technique, inspired by years of drug use and heartache.  I'm not glorifying it, there's just something real lonesome about it : /

Willie Nelson was born in Abbot, Texas in the midst of the Great Depression to parents who very quickly abandoned him and his siblings, leaving him in the care of grandparents who had been teaching Willie the basics of music that they had learned from the mail-correspondence courses they subscribed to.  He attended Baylor University but dropped out in less than two years due to his success in music.

One of the things that attracts me to this record is the Gospel sound to it that I've discussed in posts before.  Waylon and Willie both grew up playing music and singing for churches and gospel choirs.  It's not the only thing, however.  It has serious integrity and guts, both artists pasting their insecurities and faults, ones we can all agree with to some extent, vividly and unhurriedly in words and chord progressions throughout the record. I suggest paying attention to what is Side A and Side B.  This is undoubtedly one of those vinyl-pleasure albums.  Enough from me, sisters and brother.  

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SIDE 1

1 - Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys

2 - The Year 2003 Minus 25

3 - Pick up the Tempo

4 - If You Can Touch Her At All

5 - Lookin For a Feeling

6 - It's Not Supposed to Be That Way

SIDE 2

7 - I Can Get Off of You

8 - Don't Cuss the Fiddle

9 - Gold Dust Woman

10 - A Couple More Years

11 - The Wurlitzer Prize (I Don't Want To Get Over You)

http://www.mediafire.com/?043kthx1oe3n66u